COMMERCIAL NEWS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 816, 21 October 1887, Page 15

COMMERCIAL NEWS

WELLINGTON MARKETS. Wholesale Prices. FARM AND DAIRY PRODUCE.

The Customs duties collected at the port of Wellington for the week ending Saturday amounted to £4776 14s 4d. Beer duty, £75 Os sd.

George Thomas and Co. report produqe prices:—Since last quoting business has been almost at a standstill, in consequence of the extremely wet weather prevailing intermittently throughout the week. There are no changes to note in the leading lines of wheat, flour, and oats. Potatoes are a trifle firmer, in consequence of a rise in values in Sydney ; this is due to such large growing districts in Tasmania as Launceston being closed to Sydney and Melbourne for the time being, through the smallpox scare ; prices here have advanced from 35s to £2 and £2 ss. Fresh butter continues to arrive in large quantities, more than meeting the demand, and this has caused values to rule from 4d to 6d per lb. The first consignments of new potatoes to hand were sold at 2Jd per lb, but since then, owing to larger arrivals, have dropped to 2d. We quote —Long feed oats, 1b lOd ; short ditto, 2s ; oatmeal, £9 10s ; flour (roller), £9 5s to £9 10s ; stone process, £9 10s to £10; fowls’ wheat, 3s 9d to 3s 10£d ; bran, £3 10s; pollard, £4 ; maize, 3s lOd ;

1 feed barley, 2s lOd to 2s lid ; peas, 3s lOd ; beans, 3s 9d ; Derwent potatoes, 40s to 45s ; new ditto, 2d per lb; onions, none good in market; eggs, 8d per doz ; cheese, 4d ; fresh butter, 4d to 6d ; salt ditto, unsaleable ; j honey, 3d to 5d per lb J fowls, J3s 6d ; ducks,'! .4«. 6d ; geese, 7s ; turkeys; ,7s-'64 peri pair.'j Large supplies of Fiji truit are-on the market, but owing to the green condition of j bananas and pines prices were unsatisfactory. | Island oranges ruled from 1 Is 6d to 12s 6d, and cocoanuts 7s 6d per sack.” Messrs Arthur Warburton and Co. report for the week :—Banks —New Zealand, £ls 12s 6d to £l6, cum. div. ; Colonial, sales, 43s ; National, 33s to 345. Insurance—New Zealand, 70s to 72s 6d ; South British, 34s to 365, cum. div. ; National, 17s 6d to 18s ; Union, 235; Standard, 12s ; Colonial, 5s 2d. Miscellaneous —Loan and Mercantile, buyers, 'C6s ; Land Mortgage, sellers, 22s ; Natidnal Mortgage, 5s ; New Zealand Shipping, sellers, 10s; Union Steam, £ll Mosgiel Woollen, 725, cum. div., Kaiapoi, 70s to 72s 6d ; New Zealand Drug, 18s to IBs 6d ; Kaitangata Coal £ls ; Westport Coal, £1 10s ; Wanganui Gas, £l2 ; Gisborne Gas, 228 ; Wellington Trust and Loan, £6 6s; Equitable Building, £6 10s ; Wellington Gas, £l9, £9 10s, and 41s ; Gear Meat, 73s 6d. Gold Mines—lnker man, sales, 4a 6d ;. Keep-it-Dark, sellers, 34s ; Progress, sellers, 7 s 6d. Messrs Arthur Warburton and Co. reportthe following returns of amalgam from the Reefton mines for the week :—Globe, 2970 z from 190 tons ; Fiery Cross, 3400 z ; Keep-it-Dark, 2320 z. Messrs Edwards and Mcßeath report : There is very little alteration since last week ; if anything, it is favorable. Country orders have been most numerous. Female cooks have been asked for frequently, but we have had a difficulty in supplying them. All other servants are plentiful, male and female. Henry W. Peabody and Co., of New York, report on September 16, 1887 :—General trade during the past month has been in satisfactory condition. Hardware. —Prices still hold firm, with no changes of note. Brooms.—Owing to recent droughts in the West the crop of broom corn this year will be a small one, and manufacturers are now advancing prices of this line considerably. Kerosene has advanced Jo during the month, but decline is now momentarily expected. Shipments have been: Melbourne, 25,253 cs ■ Sydney, 4650 cs ; Adelaide, 12,295 cs ; Wellington, 5350 cs. Naval stores. Turpentine has been quiet during this month ; present price, 36c for Coronet or Pratt’s. Rosins are slightly lower all round. Sugar has materially advanced, owing to high price of raws and to a generally better trade feeling, and is now Ac pound above last month’s quotations. - Exports have ceased in consequence. Syrup is also higher. Lobsters and oysters have continued to advance. The fall pack of oysters begins next month, which may reduce prices. Barbwire, clothes pins, plaster, glucose, remain unchanged. Wool.—Market is quiet, with very little demand for Australian. Exohange. —There is no material change in rates. We quote prime commercial bills on London as follows :—Demand, $4.83§ ; 30 days, 84.811; 60 days, $4.791; 90 days, $4,771. Same on Australia, payable with exchange from London, $4.83J. Freights.— We quote as follows : —Melbourne, 16^0 ; Sydney, 16c; Adelaide, 20c to 221 c ; Bris* bane, 22Jc to 24c; Dunedin, Lyttelton, Wellington, and Auckland, 22Jc. We are in receipt of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Company’s circular of the date of September 7. In speaking of the wool trade, it says : —Prices exhibited very little change as compared with the .closing rates of last series. Good combing merinos in the grease sold well, but scoured descriptions, more especially when faulty, ruled slightly in buyers’ favor. Crossbreds were firm at late rates. The sale programme extends to the Bth proximo, but some curtailment of the series will probably be made at a later date. As the present range of prices is moderate, as stocks in the hands of dealers and manufacturers are known to be small, and as the available supplies are by no means excessive, the conditions of the market may be viewed as inherently sound, and to augur well for a healthy trade in the future. Wheat— Prices for imported wheat generally however, have been adversely effected by forced sales of Californian, and must be quoted 6d* to Is per quarter lower on the fortnight. The imperial average for last week was 29s lid per quarter, as compared with 33a Id at the corresponding period last year. The only cargo of Australian wheat “off ooast” during the fortnight has been sold, the best price obtainable being, say, 30s 4Jd per 4801bs c.i.f. The New Zealand cargo per Brier Holme still remains on sale, but no bids have been forthcoming which holders have been disposed to entertain. Supplies on passage to the United Kingdom are now given at 1,792,500 quarters as compared with 1,899,000 quarters a fortnight ago, and 1,855,500 quarters in 1886. The American “ visible supply ” is stated to be 30,687,129 bushels against 31.998,593 bushels two weeks ago, and 42,965,359 bushels at a corresponding period last year. The value of Australian wheat on the spot haß declined fully 6d per quarter, and sales in quantity are difficult to effect at 33s per 4961 b. More i New Zealand wheat is offering, and to make progress, lower rates have to be accepted. Some slight recovery has occurred from the extremely low rates ruling for Russian oats, but the heavier sorts, including those from New Zealand, remain depressed and are still difficult of sale. New Zealand wheat is quoted from 30s to 33s per 4961 b ; flour, 20s to 21s per 2801 b ; oats, 16s to 25s per quarter. Tallow—Mutton, 22s 6d to 24s 6d ; beef. 21s to 245. Preserved meats —Demand quiet. Freeman R. Jackson and Co.’s Johnsonville Stock Report.—The cattle yarded for the sale to-day were chiefly of good quality. Prices ruled slightly under last sales. The rates for sheep were barely maintained. Pigs were well competed for, and sold well. Fat lambs were small, and not old enough for trade requirements. Cattle —A line of 70 bullocks brought from £6 15s to £B, average £7 8s ; another line made £6 lls 6d, and a few pens of inferior beef gave an average of £5 14s 3d. Best beef made 17s the 1001 b. Sheep —Best wethers, in wool, 15s to 15s 3d ; light weights and half fat, 9s 7d to 12s lOd ; shorn wethers, 8s lOd to 9s 7d; lambs, 4b 6d to ss. Mutton in wool

I made 2Jd per lb; shorn, a shade over l£d ' per lb. Pigs—Small baconers, 25s to 27s ; good porkers, 14s to 18s; store pigs, 7s 9d to 13s each. 'Mr D. T. Stuart; .reports- for week to date :—Bank of- New Zealand,, £ls 13s to £ffi; Colonial, 42a 3d ,to,'43s ; National, 34b 6d to 35s 6d. Colonial Insnranct*, sales ss, buyers 4s ,6d, Bellers 5* ; National, buyers 18s; New Zealand, 70s to 72s ; Standard, 12s to 128 6d ; South British, sellers 34s ex ; Union, 22s 3d to 23s ; New Zealand Accident, 4s 9d to ss. New Zealand Shipping, sellers 10s ; New Zealand Loan and Mercantile, buyers 665; New Zealand Drug, 18s 3d to 19s ; Mosgiel Woollen, sellers 73s ; Gisborne Gas, 22s ; Wanganui Gas, £l2; Napier Gas, buyers £l3; Wellington Gas (issue £lO paid), buyers £lB 15s, sellers £l9 ss; Gear Meat, 70s; New Zealand Land Mortgage, 21s to 21s 6d ; Equitable Building, buyers . £6 10a ; Wellington Trust and Loan, £6 6s ; Wellington Building and Investment (£5 paid), £5 15s, (contributing) 10s preminm. Gold Shares—Fiery Cross, 9s 3d to 93 9d ; Globes, 26s 6d to 27s 6d ; Darks, 34s 6<l to 36s ; No. 2 Darks, 2s 9d to 2s 3d. ENGLISH WOOL MARKET. Jacomb, Son and Co., of London, report on August 31st :—“Pending the. opening of the sales, business in this market has been almost stagnant. ' At the sale at Antwerp on August 22nd and 23rd, 7992 bales of Australian wool were sold at prices nearly approximating the lowest of late London currency. Stocks in the ultimate markets are light, and reports from the woollen manufacturing districts generally seem to justify the hope of a maintenance of our previous currency in merino wools ; whilst in the coarse wool trade the prospect seems a little more flattering.

£ s. d. £ 8. d. Milk, quart - 0 0 4 to 0 0 0 Butter, fresh lb - - 0 0 6 0 0 0 Salt butter - . 0 0 0 to 0 0 4 Cheese, Col. 1 - 0 0 3 to 0 0 44 Eggs, dozen ' - - 0 0 8 to 0 0 0 Lard, lb. - 0 0 44 to 0 0 5 Bacon, lb. - . 0 0 5 to 0 0 6 Ham, lb. . 0 0 6 to 0 0 7 Fowls, pair - 0 3 0 to 0 3 3 Ducks, pair - 0 0 0 to 0 3 6 Geese, each - 0 2 6 to 0 3 0 Turkeys, each - 0 3 6 to 0 5 6 Hat and Corn Market. £ 8. d. £ s. d. Maize, Poverty Bay - 0 3 8 to 0 3 10 Oats, feed - - 0 1 10 to 0 2 0 Wheat do - • 0 3 6 to 0 3 9 Carrots . 2 0 0 to 0 0 0 Hay, ton - 4 0 0 to 0 0 0 Oaten, ton 4 0 0 to 5 0 0 Straw, ton . S 0 0 to 3 10 0 Chaff,— - - 3 5 0 to 3 15 0 Oaten hay - - 4 0 0 to 0 0 0 Wheat straw . 3 0 0 to 0 0 0 Onions, per cwt - - 0 0 0 to 0 8 0 Potatoes, per ton - 2 0 0 to 2 5 0 Floor Market, £ s. d. £ 8. d. Sharps, per ton - - 4 0 0 to 4 15 0 Bran per ton, - 3 0 0 to 3 5 0 Adelaide Flour, per ton 12 0 0 to 12 5 0 Colonial Flour • .. 10 0 0 to 10 5 0 Oatmeal - .. 10 0 0 to 10 5 0 Pearl Barley 15 0 0 to 16 0 0 Seeds. £ 8 d. £ B. d Ryegrass, bushel - 0 3 0 to 0 4 0 Cocksfoot, lb. - 0 0 3J to 0 0 4} Wt. Clover, lb. - - 0 0 10 to 0 0 0 Red, do . 0 0 8 to 0 0 9 Alsyke, lb. * - 0 0 10 to 0 0 C Cow Grass, lb. - 0 0 7to 0 0 9 Timothy, lb. 0 0 6 0 0 0 Rape b. . 0 0 3 to 0 0 0 Linseed, per cwt. - 0 16 0 to 0 0 0